Abide (For My Waking Breath)

Monday, September 9, 2024
"Abide in me, and I in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If you abide in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:4-5)
Today's is a guest devotional.
"Abiding with Christ is studying the Bible and living it out by faith. This faithful obedience bears fruit.
"This passage revealed to me my own faulty belief that, somehow, my activity increases my own worthiness. Jesus has already made me pleasing in God’s sight. There is nothing I can do to add to that. Godly activity flows out of a relationship with God, and not the other way around.
"Jesus says, 'Remain [which is what abide means] in me, and I in you' (my own translation). The Christian life is one of continual, intentional reliance on God the Son. He likewise promises to remain in us by the Holy Spirit.
"Jesus continues, 'Just as the branch is not able to bear fruit from itself, if it were not to remain in the vine, the same goes for you all, if you were not to remain in me. I am the vine. You all are the branches' (my translation again). Imagine a grape vine branch, severed from the vine. Picture the grapes shriveling and falling off. See the vine wood drying out. Such a branch is useless. This is what life is like disconnected from Jesus.
"Jesus concludes, 'The one who remains in me, and I in him, this one bears much fruit, because without me you all are not able to do anything' (still my translation). Jesus guarantees his followers that, by remaining in him, they will not merely have the potential to bear fruit, they will certainly do so -- not only a little fruit, but much fruit.
"Jesus is describing a Spirit-filled life. 'But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). This is the life that every human being was designed to live. This is not just a holy option for the extra-righteous. This abundant, fruitful life is exactly what our Creator had in mind when he made mankind, and it is what every Christian has been created to experience."
--Joel Settecase